Moxey: Hull Win Was "Palace Of Old"

That was the Palace of last year, working hard together as a whole group."

Dean Moxey

Dean Moxey believes the performance at Hull City on Saturday was reminiscent of “the Palace last year” that won promotion to the Premier League.

New manager Tony Pulis was in the stands at the KC Stadium to watch the Eagles grind out a valuable 1-0 win, which lifted them off the foot of the table on goal difference.

But Palace had to dig deep to maintain their slender advantage in the dying embers of the game, as left back Moxey cleared a bundled effort off the line, before Liam Rosenior’s follow-up volley cannoned off the post.

After the game, the 27-year-old praised the stern defensive display put in by Keith Millen’s men on Humberside.

Moxey told cpfc.co.uk: “It was a massive, massive win. We needed to keep the run going. Obviously we got a point off Everton before the international break and we come to places like Hull now and think ‘we should be getting three points from these teams.’

“I’m on the near post for the corners and as soon as the ball goes over my head, I’m back on the line. It worked in the play-offs in the second leg against Brighton and I did it again on Saturday.

“But it was a great team performance. We dug in, it wasn’t necessarily the prettiest game of football anyone would watch, but we dug in, it was a scrappy game but we won it and that’s what we’ve got to do now.

“We’ll take three points however it comes. We don’t need to entertain. Football’s an entertaining game, but we knew we had to play ugly at times. That was the Palace of last year, working hard together as a whole group.”

Moxey believes luck has transpired against Palace on a number of occasions so far this term, with a couple of debatable penalties awarded against them – including two he was personally involved in, against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the season and during the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.

But he believes the Eagles’ luck could finally be turning, following that pulsating end to proceedings at the KC Stadium.

“Keith said that to the lads as we were walking off the pitch,” Moxey revealed. “I’ve cleared off the line to the edge of the box, Rosenior’s volleyed it back in and hit the post, it came back to their player and we blocked it. On another day against another team, that would have hit the post and gone in, but it hit the post and came out, so maybe our luck might be turning.

“It’s just been set plays and silly little mistakes and decisions going against us this season, but to get two clean sheets in a row is a big thing. Coming away from home knowing that you only need one goal to win the game is big.

“The back four, or back five with Jules, are all happy with that, but the whole squad did well defensively. Gayley worked his nuts off and Cameron Jerome when he came on was unbelievable in holding the ball up for us. We were just clearing it to the channels and he was saying ‘put it there and I’ll chase it.’

“We can’t wait for Norwich now. We looked at the fixtures and thought this was a good run of games to pick up some valuable points and I think we need to do that to be honest.

“It’s time to move on from Hull now and Tony’s going to come in and work us hard to do that.”